NY lawmakers, DHS close to agreening on passport alternative

We may be coming to a resolution of the long-simmering debate over whether U.S. citizens who cross into Canada for shopping or short trips would require to show a passports at botrder crossings. Officials from New York State and DHS will meet next week to begin work on a high-tech driver’s license that travelers could use as an alternative to a passport at border crossings. Plans for that effort were made at a meeting Thursday involving Governor Eliot Spitzer, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, and the state’s top federal lawmakers. The governor and the lawmakers said the meeting left them more optimistic that passports will not be required at the Canadian border.

“The good news here is that they really do seem amenable for the first time to allowing a substitute for passports that would have the same security, but would be a lot easier and more convenient,” said Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York). Chertoff — who revealed his willingness to consider the driver’s license proposal while visiting Buffalo last month — rushed off without making detailed comments about the meeting, held in Representative Louise Slaughter’s D-New York) office in the Capitol. Chertoff did say, however, that “So now we’re working to see whether we can find a way to accommodate the traffic in Buffalo.”

The enhanced driver’s license probably will be modeled on the one being developed in a similar pilot program in Washington State. New York could phase in the issuance of such licenses, beginning in Western New York, Spitzer said. DHS officials indicated the driver’s license program would cost less than New York officials had expected, but Spitzer made clear that he expected the federal government to pay.